


Long Way Down

by melodycold



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alcohol, Angst, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Human Trafficking, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Mental Illness, Murder, Mystery, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Slow Burn, being a bad influence to connor in the best way, mentions of drug use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:48:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25661626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodycold/pseuds/melodycold
Summary: You're a young detective with promise, a keen knack for catching fleeting criminals. Yet you're the bane of Captain Fowlers and Lieutenant Anderson's existence with your constant need to misbehave.When a past fugitive named Kara is brought to the DPD, it's a shock to the entirety of the precinct that she has no knowledge of her past endeavours, forgetting the existence of her own daughter. More and more androids are beginning to turn up having undergone a total irreversible factory-reset.You learn it's time to take things more seriously as the case flows into a black hole that gets deeper and darker the further you delve in. But with Connor finding himself drawn to your impulsiveness and lack of direction that goes completely against all his hardwiring, you begin to help each other understand the complexities of becoming human.
Relationships: Connor (Detroit: Become Human)/Reader
Comments: 21
Kudos: 56





	1. System Reboot

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this brand new journey, I'm so excited to write this. I hope you enjoy and stick along for the ride!

Exchanged glances throughout the workday were somewhat of a frequent occurrence. Smiles, eye-rolls, _hand-gun-to-the-head-suicides_ were reciprocated with each lock of eye contact. You’d lost count the amount of times Captain Fowler has shushed you with the superiority of a headmaster when Chris would mouth Fowlers words behind his back. Or when Gavin would have you choking on your water by casually shredding important documents and acting like he hadn’t a clue why they went missing. With Connor’s desk being opposite to Hanks, yours was across the room facing the wall of what _used to be_ perfectly obedient cop-droids. You often noticed him looking up at you as you’d bite down on your mischievous laughter, looking around like he’d missed the joke. You'd deduced he must have felt left out. So, you decided to rope in the golden boy to yours, Chris’s and Gavin’s table tennis of silent banter. You shared an abundance of small smiles which soon adapted into Connor being influenced by the boys, and making it their mission to get you into _non-serious_ trouble with the boss. _You should really file a complaint for bullying._ You were like a naughty school kids in detention, and Hank would just sit back and judge you all like a father at parents evening as you treated the precinct like a year 11 science class.

“Coffee?” You asked gesturing towards Hank as you hauled yourself up from your seat. You needed any excuse for a change of scenery, even if it was just 10 metres away to the kitchen. Hank was hunched over his paperwork with his head in his hands, _man did you know that feeling._ You kneaded your hand as you massaged it from cramp. Why in the year 2040 was filling out physical paperwork still necessary? We had a new form of sentient, intelligent beings walking among us and self-driving vehicles yet we _still_ have to fill out our own paperwork? _Bullshit._ Clearly someone’s priorities were messed up. You began to wonder the many ways you could improve the average work hours with the technology you had today. The first one being holograms, so you could work extensively from bed. _Damn, someone’s priorities were really messed up._

Hank didn’t reply or even look in your direction, he was clearly distracted by the heaps of littered paperwork on his desk that were already stained by a few coffee cup rings. You manoeuvred your way over to Hank’s conjoined desk with Connor, and noticed Connor look up as you approached.

“Hank, coffee?” You repeated a little louder, but not to startle him.

“Huh, wha-” Hank mumbled almost hitting his head on his desk as his head slipped from his hands and he snapped awake from his daze. _That’s what paperwork and a hangover will do to you, again you know the feeling._ Hank shook his head and steadied himself, looking up to you and analysing what you said for a moment similar to the workings of a confused android. Then when he realised your question, you pictured the imaginary LED light returning to blue as his features softened like you’d just offered him a slice of heaven.

“Wow, a coffee sounds perfect right now, kid.” He sighed, throwing his arms up in defeat and rubbing his eyes harshly, scanning the obvious state of his papers and files. “This paperwork has got me _swamped_.”

“I did offer to help, Lieutenant.” Connor said to him, his desk immaculate with his paperwork stacked in neat piles, no doubt organised in alphabetical order _. Oh, to have the inner workings of a robot_ , _they probably thrive on doing paperwork_. Plus, they never get hand cramp. _Lucky for them._

“Thanks Connor, but your handwriting is clearly superior to… _whatever the hell mine is_.” Hank muttered as you leaned over to look at the man scrawling down something barely readable.

“No kidding.” You said, squinting your eyes, attempting to make out the strange markings on Hanks paper. “Even by android standards that would be hard to replicate, it looks like hieroglyphics.”

You noticed Connor raise in his seat slightly, moving his head to take a glance at the messy scrawling’s. His LED light spun, he was probably attempting to translate Hanks handwriting into binary code, and even then, it would probably still be more understandable. Connor laughed lightly at your joke.

“Doctors handwriting.” You said matter-of-factly, nodding toward Hank. “You’re in the wrong profession, Lieutenant.”

“Very funny.” Hank laughed with a slight grumbled, shaking his head. “So, about that coffee?”

“Whose making coffee?” You heard Gavin call as he walked by, tearing his earphones out at the sacred word. His eyes lit up like saucers and his gaze fell on you as he smiled at you sickeningly sweetly knowing _exactly_ what your response would be.

You rolled your eyes. “Two sugars?”

“Two sugars.” He confirmed with a nod and a wink, returning to his desk. You had to admit Gavin had grew on you over this past year, _slightly comparable to a weed_. But a weed that in its interior was blooming like a rose. You spent _some time_ chipping away at that chiselled exterior. Basically, the guy could be a bit of a dick, but there was a good person buried in their somewhere - and he wasn’t buried too deep.

“Add another one to the order!” Chris chimed in as he passed hastily, looking to be all flustered, stacks of paperwork in his hand.

“Are you kidding?!” You huffed, raising your arms and slamming them at your side. You yelled after him “I didn’t realise I’d been demoted to maid!” 

“You’re a diamond!” You heard him call from a distance as he shuffled down the hallway, almost juggling his files and disappearing out of sight.

You huffed again, more forceful this time, crossing your arms in detest. _You really were at the mercy of these boys._ How the hell you were going to deliver four cups of coffee in one trip, safely, _and without extra appendages_.

You looked at Connor who was already looking your way and you simply smiled at him, a little awkward not knowing how long he’d been staring. You were surprised when his LED light flashed yellow intermediately, then back to blue. The corner of his mouth twisted into a small smile.

“Need a hand, Detective?” He asked raising from his seat. You guessed it wasn’t really a question, more of a statement, since he was following you to the kitchen anyway.

“Thanks.” You smiled with a sigh. “These boys really have me whipped, huh?”

“I’ve yet to see any detective pass up on an offer for a cup of coffee, so I think you brought this on yourself, Detective.” Connors lips twisted into a smile and your mouth fell open in mock-shock while you lightly pushed his arm. You’d enjoyed how close you and Connor had gotten recently, he really was becoming someone you considered a good friend. His banter levels were rising, and his ability to light-heartedly bully you was too. _You could thank Chris and Gavin for that one._

“Sleep deprived cops swarm this precinct like vultures, maybe I shouldn’t of spoke of the scared liquid so loudly.” You snorted, turning on the coffee machine. Connor smiled at you while taking a seat and shifted his focus to the TV playing re-runs of this morning’s news.

Your mind drifted as you waited for the coffee pot to fill with steamy goodness. There wasn’t much for the news to report nowadays, not since the events of 2038. You’d been working for the Detroit Police Department for what felt like years, but in reality, was only one. You’d joined not long after the android revolution, after your training has been cut short as the precinct was desperate for staff. You had struggled to find your feet at first, the crime scenes were daunting and intimidated but it was always the time you truly managed to focus. Hank had noticed you taking a shine to his homicide cases, you just found them more appealing than constantly reprimanding the same people for drug possession. You thrived in a crime scene, and _regrettably_ particular bloody ones at that. You had your hands full at first since many colleagues, detectives and just the public in general had fled to Canada or elsewhere to take advantage of the slackened laws on android rights, _or lack of rights if that was their preference_. Many had been slowly returning since, as Detroit is now a self-proclaimed ‘safe haven’ for deviant androids. Even Cyberlife rebranded to a less intense version of itself, and became a place where androids visited for help becoming more human. Weather that be updates, counselling, _removal or exchanging of certain parts_. They do it all, just like a normal hospital for humans, but slightly higher tech. Elijah Kamski can profit off anything if he puts his mind to it _._ Imagine your whole life’s work falls apart around you but you still find a way to stay afloat among the chaos, it’s commendable really.

“Detective?”

You snapped out your daze and met eyes with Connor, who was waiting in front on you patiently. “I said the coffees done.” He looked amused at your sudden detachment from reality, a bad habit of yours. _You practically lived inside your head._

“Sorry!” You spluttered, reaching for four evenly sized mugs and began filling them with coffee. “Totally got lost in my thoughts there.”

“I noticed, I’d said your name about 3 times before you finally heard me.” He smiled reaching for two cups. “Thought you might have ran out of batteries.”

You chuckled picking up the remaining cups, “Sometimes you just need to take them out and give them a brisk rub against your jumper, then I’m good as new! I’m just like a TV remote.”

Connor LED light spun yellow, then back to blue. “How about I try turning you on and off again?” Connor said with a smirk, coffee in hand while making his way back to the desks.

You almost spilled your coffee when you caught a hearty laugh in your throat. “Honestly think I need a factory reset, might help my brain run a bit more smoothly.”

“How do you mean?” Connor questioned while tilting his head like a confused puppy, his humour shifting into a tone of slight concern.

“Hah, nothing.” You said a little awkwardly, clearing your throat. “Just thinking out loud.” Sometimes you forgot Connor took self-deprecating jokes a little too seriously, it was sweet to be honest.

Connor went to speak again but you were interrupted in your path by a jogging Gavin who approached you with grabby hands, his eyes fixated on his glorious mug of liquid gold. You held his coffee forward, rolling your eyes and he beamed at you like a child at Christmas.

“Who knew coffee was the way to a man’s heart, huh?” You snickered, handing Gavin his coffee with a passive aggressive curtsy. Gavin took a sip and his loud hum was all the thanks you needed.

You approached Chris’s desk and placed his coffee down with a loud audible clink, deliberately trying to startle him, which worked effectively as a small gasp escaped his mouth and he batted you away playfully.

“You’re lucky you were bearing gifts! Or-” He called as you walked away to your desk smugly.

“Or what, Miller?” You teased, walking backwards to face him. You raised an eyebrow and laughed as Chris simply held up a middle finger to you as he took a swig from his coffee, shaking his head in pretend disapprovement.

You heard Hank call a heartfelt thanks to you and he cupped the coffee mug with both hands, you nodded at him as you looked forward to the steaming cup on your own desk and smiled wide at Connor who was already looking your way.

\----

One spectacular coffee later, your ears perked up as you heard Fowler emerge from his glass encasing. You always wondered who the hell who opt for a _glass_ office. Total lack of privacy, and pointless. It wasn’t even sound proof, you’d overheard Fowler raising his voice multiple times. You definitely listened in while Gavin got his ass handed to him like a misbehaving school boy on a field trip. _Multiple times_. You’d been in that place a few times though, _not a fun experience_.

You’d barley got any further into your paperwork so some eavesdropping wouldn’t go amiss. You glanced at Connor who raised his eyebrows at you as Fowler approached his desk, and you silently mouthed ‘ _good luck’._ Connor bit back a smile as he looked up to his Captain.

“Got a lead for you two, a stakeout.” Fowler muttered as he moved to place the file on Hanks messy desk, but did a double take and decided to place it on Connor’s immaculate one instead. “Just had an anonymous witness call in saying a man matching the description of Mr Philip Walker was spotted hiding out in an abandoned store, near the new high flats downtown.”

“He’s the guy who murdered his roommate, right?” You said, your seat shifted 90-degrees to _unintentionally_ listen in to the conversation. Your inquisitive gaze was met by an amused Connor and Hank, and Fowler turned to glare at you – silently and without words telling you to get back to work. You mouthed a ‘ _sorry_ ’ and pretended to get back to your paperwork with a dramatic 90-degree anti-clockwise swing on your chair. Fowler sighed with light frustration, and turned back to address Connor and Hank. Connor looked past Fowler and you noticed him hold back a small laugh as he noticed you pretending not eavesdrop when you ever so clearly were.

Fowler continued. “He’s been AWOL for a few days since his roommate was found dead in their shared apartment. It’s believed they got into an argument of some sort, so I need you two to check it out and bring him in.”

“Jeffrey, I’m flooded with yesterday’s paperwork.” Hank gestured to his desk that needed no introduction.

Fowler sighed, frustrated. “Well we can’t send Connor in on his own if this criminal is to be reprimanded, who do you suggest we-“

“If I may, Sir-“ You gently raised from your seat, not wanted to volunteer as tribute as dramatically as _Katniss Everdeen_. Fowler squeezed his eyes shut and spun on his heels to face you, raising an eyebrow to hear your proposition.

“I’ve been following the case, in my spare time might I add…” You glanced at Connor who returned a supportive nod, and Hank who returned the same while glancing at Fowlers scowl expression. “If Hank needs the afternoon off…maybe I could…take his place?”

Fowler glared at you, appearing to be contemplating for a moment. Hank’s features etched into an emotion you could only describe as _pride_ as Fowler turned to him, silently asking for advice.

Hank shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands, “I can vouch for her, Jeffrey. If you want my opinion, she should be on homicide. Her talents are wasted on drug dealers since the Red-Ice distribution went bust.” Hank caught your eye-line as you bit your lip nervously. You felt a warmth in your chest from Hanks words, had you really impressed the Lieutenant this much? Maybe homicide and the front-line was your forte after all.

Connor chimed in, as Fowlers expression took a mixture of uncertainty and frustration. “Everything is in the file, Captain. I’ll make sure she’s up to date on the way there.” He stopped for a moment, his LED light flashing yellow for a beat. “It is an approximate 20-minute drive after all.” 

Fowler sighed, closing his eyes while shaking his head. He wiped two fingers harshly on his brow before looking up at you. “Fine.”

A little squeak of excitement left your throat as you clasped your hands together to avoid jumping for joy, _that would make you look lame._

“You better get a move on.” Fowler stated, making his way back to his office. “And do not let me down, Detective.” He held up a copy of a file at you and you took it with a nod of your head.

“Aye-aye Captain.” You called after him as you watched the back of his head shake as you only imagine the look of agitation on his face. You knew the Captain liked you, maybe just a touch, deep deep down, _somewhere_.

“Let’s get going, Detective.” Connor said as he passed you, car keys in hand. You flashed a bright smile to Hank before grabbing your badge and gun, mouthing a silent ' _thank you_ ' as he waved you off with a chuckle and a brisk wave. You thought about how many coffees you were going to make Hank when you got back.

\-----

You revised the file an abundance of times on the way to the stakeout, and you and Connor had currently been sat for 10 minutes staring at an abandoned drugstore waiting for any sign of suspicious behaviour. Turns out Mr Philip Walker was an adamant drug user and had been arrested a few times in the past for self-possession, _you knew you recognised that face_. It was admittedly more frail and sunken in in the current mugshot though. The theory is that Philip murdered his flatmate, Ryan Larsen, after some prolonged argument that the neighbours overheard. Apparently, Ryan was sleeping with Philip's long term girlfriend, _ouch_.

You sighed, beginning to get restless. Connor turned to you, then back to the store. “Yeah, me too.” He stated

“Homicide isn’t as fun as it looks.” You sighed, struggling to stretch in the DPD’s small undercover car, you threw yourself back harshly onto the car seat trying to shake your urge to do something impulsive.

“Not all the time.” Connor said, opening the file on his lap to give it another once over. “I wonder what he’s doing in there.”

“Heroin?”

“Probably.”

You leant your arms forward on the dashboard, squinting your eyes so the dilapidated building was more in focus. You glanced at the windows trying to make out a silhouette, but nothing showed. You sighed again, your lack of attention span getting the better of you.

“We could put on some music?” Connor suggested, noticing your restlessness.

 _No, Music wouldn't do it_. “Let rush it.” You stated bluntly, looking to Connor.

His eyes widened, although he seemed to contemplate it for a moment when he turned back to glance at the store. “We don’t even know for sure if he’s in there.”

“I just feel like sitting here is doing nothing but raising suspicion.” You’d made up your mind, as you began putting on your leather jacket on. “Come on, Connor, _let’s go_.”

Connor looked at you, his LED light running yellow clearly analysing the choice before him, it returned to blue and he paused as he shook his head. You heard him open the car door and you smiled at your influence. _Your bad influence_.

“I understand now why Fowler gets frustrated by you.” Connor said with a hint of playfulness in his tone as you hopped out the car, walking beside him toward the store.

“Thank you, _very much_.” You nudged his arm and he shook his head slightly, with a slight smile appearing on his lips. You both approached the store, attempting to look through the grimy windows or peer past the large ‘ _CLOSING DOWN EVERYTHING MUST GO’_ signs.

“I’m going to go around the back, try to cut him off if he does a runner.” You whispered to Connor as he nodded at you, you both took your guns out your holsters in sync as you made your way around the building. You twisted your face at the stench of the long-abandoned bins as made your way to the back entrance, hearing Connor shattering his way into the store front. _So much for undercover._ You stopped at the back door, trying to listen for any kind of movement before you entered, but you heard nothing. You slowly reached to open the back door and entered cautiously, looking over the counter and meeting Connors eye-line while sharing a look of concern. _Maybe you had scared him off._ You approached Connor, looking under counters and tables as you made your way over. _Where was Philip hiding?_

“Upstairs.” Connor whispers to you, nodding toward the steps. You nodded back holding your gun up, and silently crept up the stairs to the closed door at the top of the final step. You turned to look at Connor again and he signalled for you to open to door, so you obliged and crept in silently.

“Fuck!” You said through gritted teeth. “There’s nobody here.” You said scanning your eyes around the small single room. You looked under the bed and in the wardrobe, but to no avail. Philip had taken off. You threw up your arms in defeat as you huffed, throwing your head back. Connor scratched the back of his neck as you followed him to the bottom of the steps.

“Maybe he heard us coming.” He said, giving you an apologetic look.

“Yeah, probably.” You huffed again, knowing this was your fault. “ _Sorry_.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for Detec-“ Connor trailed off as his gaze shifted from you, to something behind you.

“What?” You said in a low voice, as you turned around to see what he was looking at. _The cupboard under the stairs_. You both shared a hopeful look between you as you approached the small _Harry-Potter-like_ door. You crept up to the door with movements like a panther, you glanced once more at Connor before reaching for the handle.

Suddenly, the cupboard door before flung open, knocking your gun from your grip. Your eyes cut between the man in front of you and your gun halfway through the air. You scanned the man’s face with the speed of an android and matched it to the police mugshot in the file you’d memorised on the way over. This man was 33, but drugs had aged him by about 20 years, his face was sunken in and his skin was ghostly pale. _Yep, this was Philip_. Thank god for anonymous witnesses, _and thank god for your intuition_. Philip was sweaty and breathing heavy as he hastily ran passed you, knocking Connor with so much force he knocked him off his feed into a pile of neatly stacked boxes. You noticed Connors struggle but decided he would be fine as you took off after Philip. He dashed through the back door and ran down the back alley, his limbs flailing all over the place in panic.

“Detroit Police! Freeze!” You called after him, but realised with your lack of gun he wasn’t going to listen to a word you said, so you decided to take chase. You managed to catch up to him in quick succession as it was clear this man was in no state to do any kind of marathon.

“Leave me alone you dirty pig! You’re not going to take me in!” Philip yelled as he ran. _Charming_. Philip hopped onto a mental fence attempting with all his might to haul himself over it, but with his lack of coordination and strength this gave you the opportunity to grab a hold of him and tug him from the fence, tackling him to the ground as he yelped during the process. He struggled against you and tried to hit you, but the man was weak and the punches barley landed. You harshly turned Philip over to his stomach, securing him to the ground with your knee in his back and pulled his brittle arms into cuffs.

“Let go! Let go!” Philip screamed and he writhed around on the ground. “Get the fuck off me you dirty cop!”

“You have the right to remain silent.” You stated, catching your breathe as you watched Connor jog up to you with a face full of worry. The worry subsided almost instantly as he caught sight of you, with the suspect reprimanded under your grasp.

“Nice catch.” He smiled, approaching you and helping you haul up a distraught Philip to put him in the car. Philip kicked and screamed, but you managed to block it out with your from high of winning the chase. 

“Thanks, I knew that gold medal from sports day wasn’t for nothing.”

\---------

You both sat back in the car ready to return to the station. Connor had thankfully picked up your gun, you thanked him and put it back in its holster before glancing at Philip sulking to himself in the back seat with his head rested against the window. You couldn’t help but feel a little bit smug.

“I hope this means you won’t start to _always_ go against Captains orders.” Connor said, raising his eyebrow at you but smiling nonetheless

“Rules were made to be broken, so I’m not going to make any promises.” You shrugged playfully. If this is what going against orders got you, then you more than certainly were not going to stop.

He shook his head lightly as his lip turned up. “In that case, I look forward to working many more cases with you.” He said simply, making your heart skip a beat. _That was weird._

You weren’t sure what to say so you just smiled at him as you leaned back in your seat. You pulled your phone out your pocket, your eyes widening at the sight of the screen.

“Oh shit.” You mumbled, tilting your screen to show Connor.

Connor furrowed his brow as he pulled out his own phone, his screen littered with many of the same notifications and missed calls. You glanced at each other, a worrying look etched across your features. You wasted no time scrolling through the texts and missed calls.

_Hank (5 missed calls)_

_Hank (Text Message)_

_Where are you kids??_

_Gavin (6 missed calls)_

_Gavin (Text Message)_

_ANSWER UR PHONE!!!_

_Chris (Text Message)_

_You and Connor need to get to the station now!!_

_HellOoo??_

_Captain Fowler (2 missed calls)_

“What the fuck is going on.” You mumbled as you felt your heart thump in your chest, why were they so desperate to get in contact with you both? _What was happening back at the station?_ You opened your voicemails and played a messaged from Hank, you put your phone on loudspeaker so Connor could hear.

You clicked Hanks voicemail _“You two need to get back here now, something serious has just came in.”_

Serious? You clicked the next note.

_“Where are you both? Answer your phones!”_

Maybe you should have left your phone on loud. You clicked the next voice note.

_“Detectives aren’t supposed to have their phones on silent! Get to the station now!”_

Hank was getting increasingly angrier as the voicemails went on. Yeah you definitely should have left your phone on loud.

“Let’s not waste time with angry voicemails” Connor said, putting the key in the ignition and heading back to the station. “Let’s see what this is all about.”

You sunk in your chair, a feeling of dread settled in your gut. What was so important that warranted half the precinct calling you and Connor, what the hell was waiting for you when you get back?

“Sounds like you two are in trouble.” Philip teased in the back seat and he leaned between you both, smugness settling on his frail face.

You turned to glare at him. “ _Shut up Philip_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I know it was a long one and I can't wait to start this journey.


	2. Short Circuit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What do you mean?” You said, stuttering as you scratched the back of your neck. Even with the context all this information was racking your brain.
> 
> “She has no idea who she is, where she is, who Alice is, who Luther is. She’s gone through a total factory-reset.” Hank told you, the details beginning to dawn on you now. “She’s back to being an android in a Cyberlife store, following blind orders to serve humans.”

Your body jolted forward as Connor parked the car in a haste, you held your arms out on the dashboard to stop yourself from knocking your teeth out from the force. He gave you an apologetic look, noticing that he’d almost send you flying through the windshield, but you understood the state of affairs was probably making him nervous – _as were you_. You gave him a small smile telling him it was okay, and not to worry. It was dire you both got back into the station immediately, and discover what the hell was going on. However, there was a small situation you had to deal with first, an infuriating situation named _Mr_ _Philip Walker_. Philip had decided on absentmindedly kicking the back of your chair on the journey back, and hitting his head off the car window in order to attempt his escape. This guy _really_ wasn’t going down without a fight. You heard Connor unbuckling his seatbelt as he stepped out the car, opening the door to the back seat to haul out Philip who had decided he still wasn’t giving up so easily. You hopped out the car and watched Connor as he gripped onto Philips arm and pulled him harshly from the vehicle, Philip had begun writhing around once again, spilling profanities toward Connor once he noticed his LED light and that he was in fact an android.

Connor’s expression was totally unfazed, and his LED light remained a very pigmented blue, _but it still got under your skin._

“You _fucking_ android, just take these cuffs off and I’ll crush you under my boot _tin can_!” Philip squirmed under Connor’s grip, attempting to loosen Connor’s clutch and make a run for it. _You’re not going to get far, buddy_. Philips tone switched into something more wicked. “You’re not _alive_ and you never will be, you and the rest of your plastic disciples. I’ll line you all up set a blow torch on you all you _fuckin_ -.”

You’d heard enough, even if his words meant nothing to Connor you weren’t going to stand there and let him take it. The anger was bubbling up inside of you and you just couldn’t keep a lid of it. “Hey!” You raised your voice to gain some superiority. Connor jumped slightly as his LED light flashed yellow, he noticed your anger as you roughly pulled Philip from Connor’s grasp. Forcing him ahead of you. “Keep walking, and keep that mouth of yours _shut_.”

Philip steadied himself from your harsh shove, turning on his heels and spitting on the floor in front of you and Connor. _That’s it_. Your anger got the better of you and you began to take a step forward toward Philip, but an arm appeared across your middle as Connor stopped you in your path. He looked at you softly and silently signalled for you to breathe in deep, and calm your _rational_ fury. You complied as you shut your eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath in while breathing out slowly. Philip snorted which almost made steam come out of your ears. _This fucking prick_. Philip was intentionally trying to wind you up, and it was working. You were falling right into the palm of his hands; _anger issues be damned_. He began to speak again, you expected more vulgar words to slip off his tongue but before he could get them out he was interrupted by a very _held_ _together_ Connor.

“I’d like to remind you you’re under arrest for _murder_ , Mr Walker.” Connor said to him, his calmness clearly infuriating Philip more. “So, I suggest you comply, unless you want me to bring this up in court.”

Philips face twisted into a resentful scowl, but Connor’s words dawned on him as he lowered his head and walked with heavy feet in-between you both, silently. But not before grumbled and muttered. “ _Fucking_ _android_.” His views were very outdated. Connor fixed his tie as you walked toward the station, what was that expression on Connor’s face? _Smugness._ You smiled to yourself.

The automatic doors to the station swiped open as the three of you approached the desk, signing in with haste and passing Philip off to one of the newbies, Billy Lawrence, to be incarcerated. One good thing about the company of the new detectives is that you can tell them to do anything, and they’ll just do it like the old cop-droids did. You knew this trick because Chris basically treated you as his receptionist until you grew the wiser, and knowing Billy’s record it would be awhile until that guy realised it wasn’t part of his job to clean out your locker on the weekends. You felt a _little_ bad, but the guy was a half-wit, and actually thrived in being interacted with. Billy comedically struggled to reprimand Philip as you and Connor expressed your gratitude. You both took off down the hall to find out what the hell this case was that had everybody spiralling. Philip called vile profanities after you and Connor, but you just kept walking, paying him no mind.

“Hey.” You felt a light grip on your wrist as you heard Connor call to you softly from a few steps behind, you slowed to a steady walk as you turned to him. “You okay, Detective?” He asked, his features shifting into a delicate, benevolent smile.

You almost couldn’t believe he was asking you if _you_ were okay, not after the words Philip has just uttered. “I’m good, are _you_ okay?” You asked with genuine concern. Since the revolution, hearing people with authentic distain for androids was still pretty common, but definitely in less capacity than before. They were considered a new form of sentient life, but still had to deal with the bullshit of a few arseholes now and then. You could imagine the words still affecting someone though, even if you had heard them a million times. It used to annoy you before, but since becoming friends with Connor it irked you to impossible lengths.

“Yeah.” Connor chuckled gently, noticing he still had a grip on your wrist as he let go in quick succession. “After a while you learn to just ignore it.”

You smiled at him with a beat of understanding in your eyes, “That guy was a prick.”

Connor smiled wide at you, hindering the need to laugh. “That he _was_.” He replied, as you both spotted Hank stood outside the interrogation room with his arms folded and his foot tapping on the floor impatiently. “I do appreciate you standing up to him though, Detective, and I’m proud of you for keeping your anger under control.”

You felt a little embarrassed, but a warm feeling that blossomed in your chest proceeded anyway. _Proud?_ That’s a word you’d not heard in a while. As much fun as it was to misbehave with Gavin and Chris, and as much as your anger or childish whims often got the best of you in serious situations - it did feel good that someone you admired told you they were _proud_ of you. _Gross_.

“If I may, Detective, why did you-” Connor begun but was interrupted by a very impatient Hank.

“Finally!” Hank called with annoyance at you both from down the corridor, “Never mind you both waltzing in here all nonchalant like you have all the time in the _world_ , do you not check your phones?”

You’d felt as if you’d just arrived home past curfew and you were being scolded by your dad. “If it’s any constellation, we caught Philip Walker?” You offered, raising your shoulders, giving Hank a hopeful gaze.

Hanks expression shifted into a look of surprise. “Shit.” He said simply, glancing between you both, as his annoyed expression disappeared and twisted into a warm smile. “Well done, kid.”

“Your amount of surprise is insulting.” You joked folding your arms, “I can’t wait to rub it in Fowlers face though, where is he?”

You watched and Hank’s smile fell, his eyes widened as his eye-line moved higher up to something behind you. You didn’t even need to turn around, you knew who was stood there by his reaction. _You and your fucking mouth._

Captain Fowler passed you by, stopping to turn to you and Connor before he continued his walking pace. “I’ve just been informed by Detective Lawrence that Mr Philip Walker will be detained in our holding cell for the night, nice work Detectives.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Connor said courteously with a nod of his head, “however I must inform you that my partner here was responsible for catching him, she showed _excellent_ initiative.” 

You weren’t quite sure what to say, although it was due to your lack of ability to follow rules that you both managed to catch Philip, it was nice of Connor to big you up in front of the _big bad boss_. You felt a little nervous, if you were being honest. “Errr…It was a team effort!” You spluttered with a wide smile, nudging Connor slightly as a thank you. Your eyes glanced from Hank to Fowler, unsure of how to react or what reaction you were about to receive.

Fowler titled his head slightly, a small smile tugging on his lips. “Nevertheless, I’m impressed. Well done to you both. Now please refer to Lieutenant Anderson as he’ll update you on this current case, given the _circumstances_ I’ll let the lateness slide.” Fowler continued in his stride and you let go of the breath you didn’t realise you’d been holding. _Phew, maybe he hadn’t heard you little comment._

Fowler spun on his heels, and stopped for a moment with the palm of his hand pressed on the pad to open the door to the interrogation viewing room, before turning to you again. “Consider my face, _rubbed in it_.” And then into the room he went.

Your eyes widened and your face dropped, as your mouth hung open, you were mortified. _Shit, shit, shit._

“Fuck my _life_.” Was all you could muster as you glanced at Gavin and Chris by the interrogation room almost buckled over in laughter from eavesdropping in on the conversation. You mouthed “ _Pricks_ ” at them while holding your middle finger up, you looked around noticing Hank holding back his laughter and Connor with a large grin slapped on his face. You held your face in your hands to avoid letting everyone see your beet red face. _This is first degree bullying._

“You really keep me young at heart, kid” Hank’s tone threatened to spill into hysterical laughter, but he knew this wasn’t the time. “Come on, I need to catch you guys up on what you missed. _ASAP_.”

You followed Hank to his desk while glaring at Gavin and Chris threateningly, the pair were wiping their eyes from tears _, it was a real love-hate relationship with those boys_. It was like working with two older brothers, and they were both hellbent on bringing Connor into the mix. You didn’t mind though; the boys knew how to take it as well as receive it, so it was fun when you weren’t the butt end of the joke. With Connor it felt a little different though, something you couldn’t quite put your finger on. That reminded you, _he had a question_.

 _“_ Hey, what were you going to say before?” You asked Connor, jogging slightly to catch him up, removing your gaze from Chris and Gavin who were still chuckling wickedly between themselves. Hank had so rudely interrupted Connor’s question he didn’t get a chance to get it out, before you’d been placed top of the list for Fowlers next scolding session.

Connor seemed confused for a moment _. “_ Wha- oh.” And then it dawned on him, but Connor waved his hand dismissively. “Nothing important.” He muttered. You had a feeling he was lying, but you’d reached Hanks desk by this point and you were _dying_ to know what had gone down at the station while you both were hunting Philip. So, you decided to put a pin in it, _for now_.

“Okay.” Hank sighed briefly and he sat down, placing what looked to be an old file down on his, now cleaner than before, desk. _Maybe that afternoon off had done him a world of good_. You and Connor had a silent battle for the seat adjacent to Hank, and Hank watched you both disapprovingly as he tapped on his desk with agitation. “You two _really_ test my patience.” He said like disappointed father.

Connor gave up and let you have the seat, you sighed contently as you swung your arms behind your head and placed your feet up on his desk, pretending you were swaying on a hammock in the Bahamas. _You liked to rub in your victories, no matter how small_. But Connor wasn’t annoyed, he only shook his head and tugged his lips into a smile as he settled to rest on Hanks desk instead. You noticed Connor’s expression change and his LED light flash yellow, and then red for a beat as he spotted the file on Hanks desk, his smile dropped and his brow furrowed.

“That file is from 2038, before Markus freed the androids.” Connor said, perplexed, his LED light still spun yellow. He stood up and turned the file towards him as he opened it. “Why do you have this out, Lieutenant?” He asked, confusion spread across his features.

Hank leaned back in his worn-down desk chair, breathing out a deep breath that came out with a slight grumble. “Back when Cyberlife sent you to the DPD to assist me with the deviant cases, we followed a lead for a missing AX400 model and a missing YK500 model.” Hank stated, turning to you as you listened closely. You’d joined the DPD after all this mess went down, so other than through hearsay you didn’t know the facts of what had happened before. “The case was left cold, we never managed to catch them.” Hank continued, and you took your feet down from the comfortable position on Connor’s desk, shifting to glance at the images in the file. “And other than Connor spotting them at Jericho, we never _actually_ found out what happened to them.”

Hank took an image from the file, showing it to you so you could put faces to the situation. You recognised the faces of the pair as you’d seen their models on magazines covers, or on billboards back before they were taken down or discontinued. _Androids were not sold as property anymore_. You took the image from Hank, noticing how impossibly human they looked in their human clothes, if it wasn’t for the reuse of their faces on many other android models you would have never assumed they _weren’t_ human.

“Kara, and the little girl is named Alice.” Hank affirmed, pointing to each of them in the image, “They fled to Canada with another android, a TR400 model named Luther who took care of the pair and served as their protection.” Again, Hank offered you another image of the TR400 named Luther. Luther was a tall android, resembling the build of a club bouncer. _You would not want to mess with that guy._

Hank continued, “They’ve been back in Detroit for a few months since the new rules for android rights settled into place.”

“How did you find all this out?” Connor asked, glancing up from the file while he looked to be slightly dazed. His LED light was still spinning yellow. _He must be reliving his past in his mind_. Although confused, Connor seemed happy, obviously happy knowing the fact they’d _made_ it. “I thought the case was abandoned, after _everything_.”

“It _was_.” Hank expressed, matter-of-factly. “But a few weeks ago, Kara had been reported missing. The case was given to Chris and Gavin, so I hadn’t managed to put two and two together until I _saw_ her.”

It was still a wonder to you how those guys got assigned to missing persons. _They couldn’t even find their ass if they were sitting on it_. You shook your head from your thoughts, realising what Hank had just said.

“Saw her? So, she’s been found?” You asked, looking hopeful but confused why Hanks gaze was so sombre. If this was just a missing person’s case, but the android had been _found_ , what was the need for the haste and great extent of the calls, texts and voicemails you and Connor had received? _Oh god, is she dead?_

“Yes, she has been found, she’s actually in the interrogation room right now.” Hank stated as he gestured to the room down the hall. You breathed a sigh of relief, but you and Connor looked to each other, just as confused as the other. Hank continued. “But somehow, she’s forgotten everything.”

“What do you mean?” You said, stuttering as you scratched the back of your neck. Even with the context all this information was racking your brain.

“She has no idea who she is, where she is, who Alice is, who Luther is. She’s gone through a total factory-reset.” Hank told you, the details beginning to dawn on you now. “She’s back to being an android in a Cyberlife store, following blind orders to serve humans.”

“But androids have had their memories wiped before, right?” Connor stated, his LED light still betraying his confused thoughts. “Why hasn’t she been taken to Cyberlife for repairs?”

Hank began typing on his computer, bringing up an email thread going back and forth from the DPD and Cyberlife. “According to Cyberlife they’ve had a few cases of androids being brought in having undergone a total factory reset recently, they’ve chalked it up to a loose screw or something.” 

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s the exact phrase they used.” You said, absentmindedly as you rolled your eyes.

“They basically said the same thing when androids started going deviant, and we all know how _that_ turned out.” Hank shrugged, replacing the images back into the file and handing it to Connor. “Detective Miller and Detective Reed have been working on a few missing android cases recently, they seemed to have spiked, and a few of them have shown up at Cyberlife with the same symptoms as Kara.”

“So where did Chris and Gavin find Kara? Did someone call it in?” Connor asked, playing with the file in his hand. His LED light was still a very prominent yellow.

“Actually, it was Alice and Luther who brought Kara in.” Hank replied, both you and Connor shared another confused glance.

“They’re both here? Alice and Luther?” You asked, your heart was pained thinking of the little girl. You hadn’t even met her yet but you began to empathise with her, your thoughts dawning on the loss of your own mother. She’d suffered an intense case of dementia a few years before she passed, it hurt to look in the eyes of someone you loved so much and know they didn’t recognise the person in front of them _. You never wanted to experience that feeling again._ Your mind wandered back to Alice, wondering how she was coping, especially at such a young age. At least you had the luxury of growing old and finding distractions with your work, but because Alice was an android she’d have to suffer the constant pain of always having to look at it from a child’s point of view. _Oh man, that’s sad._ You tried to stop yourself from spiralling, and shook your head before you got too emotional, focusing on Hanks words instead.

“They’re in the waiting room downstairs, I wanted to wait until you two got here. The last time that little girl saw me I was chasing after her and her accomplice down a busy highway street, so I can’t image my face being too welcoming.” Hank asserted, glancing between you and Connor.

“That explains the angry voicemails.” You muttered to Connor, he tried to stifle a laugh as Hank raised an eyebrow at you knowing this wasn’t the time, or the appropriate situation, to humour you.

“ _However,_ Connor is a friendly face from Jericho.” Hank resumed, and then gestured to you. “and _you’re_ more equipped to dealing with children _, I_ _image_.”

“Why is that? Because I can relate to them?” You half-joked but Hanks features were unfazed.

“Yes, actually.” Hank remarked bluntly, but with a hint hilarity in his tone.

You rolled your eyes, but you could understand his logic behind it. Captain Fowler and Lieutenant Anderson were like your work dads, constantly scolding you and constantly sitting back to judge you silently with a newspaper in hand. They were total _dad_ stereotypes, and ones you loved to wind up a that. They really took on the parental role in your life since your own father wasn’t around much and your mother was deceased, but you didn’t want to begin looking into the psychology and mental scars an abandoned father and a dead mother does do a person at such a young age. _Not right now anyways._

“Let’s make a start, Detective.” Connor said getting up from his perch on Hanks desk, tapping your shoulder and signally for you to get up from _his_ seat. “We’ll head downstairs now, Lieutenant.”

“Find out as much as you can and report back to me.” Hank affirmed before shuffling some files on his desk. “And be gentle, the little girl was pretty distraught.”

You raised from Connor’s seat, letting out a harsh sigh. “No pressure then.” You mumbled.

\---

Connor mentioned that he was going to make a quick trip to the evidence room to grab a few old files from 2038 before you made your way downstairs. You thought it was a good idea so you told him you’d wait for him. You began to offhandedly drift down the corridor as you patiently waited around the staircase that would take you to the waiting room downstairs, feeling slightly nervous as you tried to muster words in your head of what to say to – how did Hank put it? – a _distraught_ little girl. You were so frightened of saying the wrong thing, so it was a relief to be distracted for a few moments while you suddenly felt Gavin grab you into an intense, playful headlock. You never thought a headlock would bring you such relief, but here you were, _distracted_ _at the very least._

“I’m _so_ proud of you!” Gavin said while gritting his teeth as he roughly ruffled your hair into an applauding mess. You squeaked while choking on your laughter, trying to break free of his grip. You pushed him off you with hard shove as you both cracked up at the current state of your appearance, blowing the mess he’d made of your hair out your face.

“You’re a dick.” You said, _you meant it_ , but your tone sounded too friendly for him to believe you.

“I just can’t help it, I’m busting with _pride_!” Gavin grinned wide, as he gripped onto your shoulders and lightly shook them. “You caught your first _murderer_! I think I owe you a gold star.”

“Tsst, yeah.” You rolled your eyes, looking around this time before making your passing comment. “It was a long time coming, it would have happened months ago if Fowler believed in me.”

Gavin folded his arms as he raised an eyebrow, laughing lightly as you knew he agreed with the statement. “Can’t be a coincidence that your first catch was with the high and mighty R _obo-cop_. Maybe instead of being a bad influence to Connor, you should let him be a good influence to _you_.”

You knitted your brows together as you stood there, shocked and bewildered at his words. “Bad influence!?” You saw Gavin visibly gulp harshly at your exasperated reaction, a reaction he well and truly proved. “I’m not a bad influence to Connor?!” You shook your head vigorously.

 _Were you?_ You began to overthink. Yeah, you’d roped Connor into a few workplace pranks here and there, and _yes_ maybe he’d began to play a few pranks of his own on Chris under _your_ influence. But they were _harmless_ pranks that only consisted of deleting his afternoon document, or putting salt in his coffee. And _yes_ , maybe Connor began slacking slightly at work and falling behind on his paperwork now and then, because you’d often distract him from across the room with silent gestures and loud conversations. And _yes_ , maybe the fact on more than one occasion he’d witnessed you go completely against Fowlers orders, and maybe making him do the same this afternoon was a little too far, but that didn’t make you a bad influence if it paid off, right? ... _Right?_

Gavin noticed your face fall as you began spiralling, he tried to find the words to snap you out of your daze but when he noticed Connor approach he clasped his hand on your shoulder, deciding on the blunt truth instead. “Yeah… _you_ _are_.”

You glared at Gavin as he began wandering past you, you spun around to watch him walk by Connor with grin from ear to ear slapped on his face. “And hey, good luck with the case you two.” Gavin said to you both as he walked backwards down the hallway, exchanging a mutual head nod with Connor before passing him by. “Got the feeling it’s going to be a gnarly one.” He called as he twirled around to drift back down the hallway out of sight.

You felt the palms of your hands go damp as your brain skyrocketed out of control with a cluster of inflated thoughts. Your mind was jumbled, one half of your brain was focused on assembling words to comfort Alice, and the other half was concentrating on the fact you may have been compromising the DPD’s greatest cop-droid with your own need to misbehave like an immature little schoolgirl. You’d fully roped in the golden boy to your own selfishness whims, Connor didn’t need you around to drag him down to your level.

“Everything okay, Detective?” Connor asked as he stood in front of you, forcing your eyesight to come into focus as you noticed the worried gaze etched on his features. “I’ve noticed your heart rate excel rapidly, would you like to sit down?”

You hadn’t even noticed the wave of panic that had settled in your chest, so you began to control your breathing as the panic slowly subsided. “I’m good.” You sighed as you forced a smile. You felt the slight ripple of euphoria as the knot untightened in your stomach. Connor replaced his worried gaze with a small smile as he must have sensed your heart rate decreasing as you came back down to planet earth. Must be handy having the ability to sense the heart rate of those around you, _imagine having a built-in lie detector._ Pretty cool.

“I’m just worried…about what to say to Alice.” You told him, it technically wasn’t a lie so hopefully no alarms bells would be ringing. “I just don’t want to upset her any more than I _imagine_ she already is.”

Connors face was full of understanding, as he shuffled the files in front of him, handing you one. “This might help you to feel more prepared.”

Connor handed you a file from 2038, you noticed the slight despairing expression on his features. You’d learned to read Connor pretty well, most of the time anyway. The smalls tells of his facial expressions would probably remain unreadable to anyone who didn’t _know_ him. You had to admit it wasn’t easy at first, and still sometimes you struggle to read his infuriatingly blank profile. _Or_ maybe since you’d become closer he’d felt more comfortable showing his true emotions to you? _Nah that’s not it_.

You began to flick through the file, and it was evident by your face the contents of the report were anything but cheerful. You read over the words of the report of Todd Williams, his past of dabbling in drug dealing and red ice distribution, his documentation for being a deadbeat father, and his purchase record for an AX400 model and a YK500 model – both androids had a written history of being sent back for repairs, a few too many times for an accident to be considered. You felt a throb in your chest, _this poor little girl._ The only two parental figures in her life either forgotten her or hurt her. Maybe you could relate to this girl more than you previously thought, and maybe Hank was right to wait for you to get back.

“So, I deduce that he was…beating the androids? And that’s how they turned deviant?” You asked Connor and he simply nodded, that pained expression still evident of his face. You handed him back the file trying not to think about it too much in case you got too upset. “This is some…heavy stuff.”

“Sorry I had to show you that.” Connor apologised, taking the file back and tucking it under his arm. “I only bring it up because it appears Kara has been reset before, and her memory was resorted when she chose to protect Alice from Mr Williams.”

Your eyes lit up, hopeful, but a concern expression marked your features. “So, you’re saying it would take a traumatic situation for Kara to remember? I can’t image that being particularly _fun_ … for any of us.”

“I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.” Connor replied, shaking his head from the thought.

You couldn’t imagine anything worse than having to force an android into a distressing situation to compel them to remember, there must be some law against that. And hey, maybe Cyberlife would have worked their magic by then, _hopefully_. Connor opened the door for you to enter the staircase that would lead you downstairs. You both shared a sheepish smile as you tried to brush off the nerves that began creeping into your chest once again. You walked down the stairs, headstrong with your mind focused on the task of consoling Alice and finding out as much as you could of what happened to Kara. You hoped this wouldn’t go any deeper than a few simple short circuits, surely androids just have malfunctions all the time, _right_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the lovely comments on chapter 1 and i hope you all come along on this journey as i have much MUCH more to tell! After the main plot is all introduced, i'm excited to dable in some more domesticated chapters.


	3. Suspect Device

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Connor learn more of Luther, Alice's and Kara's past, and a potential lead opens the large black hole of the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So i'm back to work for the next 2 weeks so i decided to shorten this chapter in order to get it out! After the next chapter we are really going to focus more on the reader and Connor's relationship, this chapter and the next are going to be more plot focused and then the intensity is going to slow down abit! So stay tuned and I'll get them out as soon as possible!

You peered through the murky glass of the door that would take you to where the little girl and her guardian where waiting for questioning, squinting your eyes you tried to work out the figures from across the room and match them to the images Hank had showed you before. You instantly recognised the TR400 from the photographs, _a large sombre man slouching over a table with lifelessness behind his eyes was hard to pass by_. You subsequently scanned the room further as you followed Luther’s stare as every other moment he would glance down to the YK500 model named Alice. Alice was sitting on the floor cross-legged as she coloured on paper with crayons the DPD had supplied her with. Who the hell was carrying crayons?? _Chris. Definitely Chris_. You tried to ignore the tug on your heart as you pulled in a harsh breath in attempt to calm your nerves, a gentle hand touched your shoulder and Connor shared a reassuring smile with you. It was an intermediate distraction from the constant torture of thinking about _what the fuck you were going to say_ , but you persevered to proceed with that case. You pushed the door gently to not startle the pair, opening it for you and Connor to step inside. You noticed the eye-line of the androids meet you both as your blood suddenly ran cold. You and Connor must have looked so dumb, the pair of you just stood there voiceless, both respectfully allowing the other one to take the lead out of fear and uncertainty of what to say. Usually, you’d have no trouble introducing yourself first, bursting your way in and putting on your extroverted front in order to gain the victims trust _and/or to intimidate them_. But something about this felt different, something about this _hurt_ , and you really didn’t want to unsettle anyone in this room. _Especially a little girl._

Both you and Connor stood dumbfound, contemplating what to say _. You should probably start by introducing yourself, idiot_. Connor instinctually took the lead. He must have sensed your heart rate spike, or notice the fact you very clearly were not yourself – _or both._ Maybe he read your mind, that thankfully wasn’t an android ability, as far as you were aware. Connor surged forward, with his arm extended with the enthusiasm of a lawyer, and introduced himself to Luther.

“Hello, my name is-“ Connor barley managed to get his introduction out before Luther interrupted him, standing rapidly, towering over Connor with his large figure. You gulped harshly, almost choking on the serge of fear that shot through you, until Luther extended an arm of his own.

“Connor, yes.” Luther confirmed as he and Connor shook hands respectfully. “We know who you are.”

For a moment you totally forgot your current surroundings as it took every fibre of your being not to burst out laughing at the site of Connor craning his neck back in order to retain eye contact with Luther. This would be a very very inappropriate situation for you to fall about laughing right now. You tried to retain your composure. You tried not to let Luther’s height intimate you, you focussed on the fact the guy seemed sweet natured and his eyes bled kindness. But his gigantic muscles and large, toned build really juxtaposed the gentleness of his features. It really made you think of what he was capable of, _Alice must feel indestructible when he was around_. Compared to Connor’s height, you barley grazed his shoulder. So even on the very tips of your toes Luther could probably stand on you like an insignificant ant. Your mind was beginning to wander as you tried not to think about the time Gavin once compared you and Connor to Judy and Nick from Zootopia. When Connor didn’t get the old movie reference Gavin almost flipped a lid, _Connor apparently didn’t have taste for the classics._ Your nerves had almost dissolved at this point, but you tried to ground yourself back in the room and reminded yourself there was currently an investigation going on.

You automatically switched into auto-pilot, a function you whipped out sometimes when your swarm of thoughts won’t leave you unattended. You stepped forward, matching Connors energy from before as you reached to shake Luther’s hand and introduced yourself. Luther returned a small but genuine smile. Your gaze was driven to Alice, who absentmindedly continued with her pictures, blocking out the outside world. _A tactic you well and truly knew more than anyone_. You looked back toward Luther, as Connor began settling opposite him with his files in hand.

“I would like to ask Alice a few questions, if that would be okay with you.” You asked as Luther returned a nod of consent. He turned his attention horizontal to himself as he looked to Connor. You and Connor shared a supportive glance as you both silently wished the other _good luck_.

You kneeled down to perch yourself in front of Alice as none threateningly as possible. _How do you even begin to perch as none threateningly as possible?_ You felt like a predator about to pounce on its prey in this position, so you shifted to mirror Alice’s arrangement as you crossed your legs and sat down gently in front of her. Alice didn’t look at you or even acknowledge you as she continued to harshly scribble on the paper with her crayons.

“Hi there, Alice.” You smiled at the young girl as you told her your name, she momentarily stopped doodling, but she continued in quick succession as she continued to focus on her images. “I’d like to ask you a few questions Alice, do you think you’ll be able to answer them for me?” You asked her, reached for your belt to take out your pen and notebook. But when Alice payed you no mind again, you realised it wasn’t going to be that easy. _Maybe you should try from a different approach._

You smiled again in order to convey a message to Alice that she can trust you, you weren’t a very motherly person, but a very immature person that perhaps you could maybe use to your advantage. You began to notice Alice scanning the floor for more paper to draw on, and you noticed her defeated look as she drew her knees in to her chest. The fearful look on her face totally shattered your heart, but you tried not to focus on your pain and instead aimed to make Alice as comfortable as possible. You noticed your notebook in your slackened hand, and you suddenly you had an idea.

You extended your arm. “Here.” You said gently as you handed Alice your notebook, the many blank pages from your lack of note taking finally paying off. For the first time, Alice actually made eye contact with you. She took the notebook timidly from your hands, and muttered a very small _“Thank you.”_

She wasted no time continued to improve your notebook with splashes of coloured crayon markers. She looked over your own doodles in your notebook, and shared a small smile with you as she began to colour in your small masterpieces. You remember when Captain Fowler harshly reminded you your notebook wasn’t an art book, _bet he feels stupid now._

You took a deep breath as you contemplated further, trying to work out how you could casually link the conversation back to the fact _her own mothered had forgotten her_. You imagined it probably wasn’t a very fun topic to bring up and you were almost certain Alice would rather not think about that right now. However, it was crucial to the investigation that you knew as much as you could before Kara was to be interviewed in order to jumpstart her memory. You just had to think of the most ethical way to do it.

“May I?” You asked Alice as you reached for her pile of colourful drawings. Alice looked tense for a moment, but nodded gently. You proceeded to carefully take the stack of papers, riffling through them to see if you could gain inspiration from Alice’s scrawling’s. The drawings were kind of cute, _you would most certainly hang them up on your fridge._

You settled on an image that made a small tear in your heart. Alice had drawn herself with Kara and Luther. A sweet image in its own right, but when you looked closer you saw the expression she’d drawn on her and Luther’s face was sadness, the tears were prominent in the image as they stained the page blue. Alice had drawn Kara with a blank expression on her face, juxtaposed to Alice and Luther’s tearful ones. There was an abundance of question marks around Kara’s figure, and in small writing the words _“Please remember me, Mom”_ in a speech bubble coming from Alice’s mouth. You sucked in a harsh breath, the tears in your eyes threatening to spill. Please remember me, mom. That phrase. A phrase you’d uttered yourself to your own mother years ago, a phrase you’d well and truly screamed at her. Just begging her to remember, begging her to remember something, anything. _How could a mother forget her own daughter? She clearly never loved you, you weren’t good enough, you don’t deserve love, you-_ **no**. You began to argue with yourself in your own mind. If that’s the way your thought process is going then you’re saying Kara doesn’t love Alice. Kara may have forgotten Alice once before, but it was due to the fact she put herself in harm’s way to protect her daughter. It was neither your mothers, nor Kara’s choice to forget. It was something totally out of their control, and even though one is a fragile human and one is an immortal machine – _they were still very much capable of love_. Surely you could take something from that?

You snatched yourself from your thoughts yet again, eyes peering up to Alice, glassier than before and reminded yourself to force switch back into auto-pilot. You placed the image down in front of her, Alice’s attention leaving your notebook and focusing on the image before her. You slightly pushing the image toward her so she could see it more clearly. You really didn’t want to upset her but you needed to know. Alice bit the inside of her cheek, and nervously tugged her jumper sleeves over her hands as she traced the drawing of Kara with her finger. Your heart hurt more than before.

“We will get her memory back, Alice.” You told her. You’d try your very best, _you really would_. At the moment nothing was more important to you than fixing this little girls’ family when it was actually possible. For the first time, Alice opened her mouth to speak as she looked up at you with wet eyes.

“Promise?” She asked, her voice small.

Then you replied something you probably shouldn’t have, a word that held weight. A word you’re taught not to say as a detective because you _can’t_. You took a pledge only knowing the skin surface of the case that was well and truly far from over. Maybe it was because it was impossible to fix your own family, maybe you were over compensating for something. Or maybe because when you looked in this little girls’ eyes, and all you saw was pain and fear of abandonment, _all you saw was you_. Maybe the idea of a broken contract and potentially ripping hope from Alice’s grasp was a worse way to look at it. But you were determined.

“ _Promise_.” You confirmed. _Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t have said that._

\-----

Around 30 minutes had gone by and at this point you had joined Alice is some calming doodling, _you’d decided to take this up as a hobby_. You almost completely forgot your detective job as you lay on your front, sharing crayons with Alice and ripping pages from your notebook. You drew embarrassingly bad landscapes, allowing yourself to get lost in your inner child. But you actually felt at ease, and you could tell Alice enjoyed the company. She silently began to show you her doodles of purple dogs and pretty flowers where each petal was a different colour. _Very creative._ You could slightly hear the muffled conversing between Connor and Luther as they shared as much information as they could with each other. You didn’t envy Connor, _you could do this all afternoon._

For a moment, among the abundance of Alice’s bright-coloured drawings you spotted one image in your notebook that stood out for all the wrong reasons. You noticed Alice grow nervous as your expression turned unsettled as you picked up your notebook to look at the image more clearly. This image was dull compared to the others. An old, delipidated mansion in the rain. The front door was tall and resembled the look of a grand entrance of a haunted house. You noticed a shadow of a large man in the window, there were androids outside the house with appendages missing and… _is that a robot polar bear?_ If this little girl was having a hard time talking, you were sure she was trying to tell you something, in her own weird little way.

“This is some pretty dark stuff, kid.” You said, your sight still on this image. It was so different to the others _it had to mean something_. “You’re not in trouble, but do you mind if I talk to your…dad about this?” _Was Luther her dad? He certainly acted like one._

Alice’s eyes opened for a moment, staring at the image again, but she reluctantly nodded as you shared a small comforting smile with her as she began to tug on her jumper sleeves again. You held out a gentle hand as you stood up, which she took as you lead her to the desk where Connor and Luther sat.

“Detective?” Connor asked with confusion as he noticed you both approach the desk.

You pulled a seat beside Connor as Alice moved opposite to sit with Luther who instinctually put an arm around her shoulder, he asked her if he was okay and she nodded at him, her expression blank.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt.” You apologised as you sat down, placing Alice’s drawing in front of you. You noticed Connor’s LED light flash yellow as he noticed the image before you, clearly slightly disturbed by the contents, _as were you_. You spun the image around to Luther and Alice’s side of the table, pushing it toward them both.

Luther’s expression changed and you feared for a moment you may have done the wrong thing, but when you saw the metaphorical lightbulb flash above Luther’s head you realised Alice really was onto something. Luther glanced at Alice as he shared a supportive look, clearly some trauma had been shared between them in this monster house.

“How could I forget.” Luther began. Connor turned to you for a moment you almost missed, a flash of a smile and a nod, a quick and silent well done. But this time you didn’t feel smug, _you felt hopeful_. Hopeful that maybe you really could help Kara and your promise with Alice didn’t have to be broken.

“Zlatko Andronikov.” Luther said the name, you looked at Connor hoping the name would jumpstart a memory or ring a bell but his LED flashed yellow for a beat as he researched the name, his expression remained unfazed, _potentially not our guy then._

Luther resumed. “He posed as a man wanting to help, but he only wanted to help himself.” A look in Luther’s eye almost turned to fury as you noticed something resembling a vein strain in his temple as he tensed his jaw. “He reset Kara in order to sell her on, when her and Alice came for help with crossing the border. The guy was deranged, he did this to a lot of androids to sell them on for profit.”

You saw Connor’s eyebrow raise as if it had just clicked for him, but before you and Connor could jump for joy at the fact of a potential suspect Luther chimed in with a simple. “He’s dead.” _Oh, definitely not our guy then_. You and Connor tried to get Luther to elaborate on what he meant, but he refused to share anything more.

“How do you know this?” Connor asked Luther, as he began to look over his files once more. A clear lack of information for a certain android floating in the air. “We have nothing on you, Luther. You’re practically a ghost.”

“Zlatko was my owner.” Luther chimed in, removing his gaze from Alice’s drawing that was clearly showing him pain and bringing up many unwanted memories. “I was his muscle to restrain the androids while he did his…experiments.” Another pained expression on Luther’s face, but his features softened when he looked to Alice who placed a gently hand on his forearm.

“Luther protected us.” Alice spoke softly.

“I saw him try to hurt them and I…I…” Luther took a deep breath. _“I woke up.”_

The words sent a shiver down your spine. _Wow, what a redemption story_. It was clear the bond Alice and Luther had was strong, and you were glad at the very least they had each other.

“If you’re searching for a lead, I would start there.” Luther said as he locked eyes with Connor, the pair both blinking rapidly for a few seconds as Connor’s LED light flashed yellow as he received Luther’s _text? Email? Message? Who knows how it works._

“An address.” Luther confirmed to keep you in the loop. _We can’t all have highly advanced telekinetic superpowers_ , you huffed slightly. You felt a little left out.

“Thank you for this.” Connor said courteously as he nodded both to Alice and Luther, “This information has been extremely useful and I’ll update you both after the interrogation.”

 _Interrogation?_ You barley had any time to recollect your thoughts before Connor stood up swiftly, nodded to pair and made a rapid exit with all his files and notes in hand. You quickly followed suit thanking both Luther and Alice for their time before darting after Connor up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda hate this chapter lmao but i know i need to write plot to set my story. there is definitely more relationship/friendship building coming though so don't worry!


	4. Error 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You need to hit something. Anything to be rid of this anger surging through you like a virus on a hard drive. You could almost see the metaphorical error 101 messages flashing up before your eyes, and feel the short circuits sparking rapidly on your motherboard. But you settled for something less violent, something potentially career ending, but your anger demanded it. 
> 
> “You’re a dick.” You said to your Captain, simply.

_Zlatko Andronikov_ , the name didn’t ring a bell. Nor had a hint of familiarity flickered in Connor’s eyes when he heard the name or received the address. It made you feel slightly weary, thinking of what had gone on in that house of horrors totally undetected and unreported. It made your throat go dry thinking about what else could have possibly been going on in Detroit right under the DPD’s nose. That was a very _unsettling_ feeling, knowing there was stuff the DPD hadn’t even picked up on. You tried not to pay it too much mind as you heaved yourself up the stairs to catch up to Connor. His mind was clearly occupied so you momentarily forgave him for leaving you behind like a dog tied outside a shop.

You attempted to recollect your convoluted thoughts from the abundance of information you and Connor had both received from the questioning of Alice and Luther. A lot of your mind was taken up by Alice, the promise you’d made her. It left a little tab open in your brain that was just constantly going haywire, thinking of every possible outcome and lead. You realised making a potential broken promise to a little girl was easier than telling her the truth, that maybe we _couldn’t_ fix Kara. Maybe this case had a lot more to it than the surface was portraying. You hadn’t noticed at this point, but as your mind wandered you caught up to Connor’s ridiculous android walking speed and bumped into the back of him. You shook yourself from your thoughts. You knocked Connor’s papers onto the floor and you cursed at yourself for not watching where you were going, thankfully it was just papers and not coffee this time. _Sorry Gavin._

“ _Shit_! Sorry!” You coughed as you knelt down to pick up the papers, the clear distress in your tone of voice abundantly clear.

“Everything alright, detective?” Connor asked you as he himself knelt down to pick up the files and papers that fluttered to the ground, his wasn’t angry at you, or even slightly annoyed. He was concerned. _I mean why wouldn’t he be, you were practically sweating with worry._

“I’m good.” You lied.

“You’re lying” He stated.

“I _know_.” You said, shuffled the papers into your hand and standing up with a groan, sighing as you handed the mess of papers in your hand to Connor.

“You can talk to me, you know, Detective. If something is worrying you, I’d like to help.” Connor said to you, taking the crumpled papers from your hand, not losing eye contact with you as he did so.

You looked down, taking a breath. Maybe telling Connor would make you feel better, or maybe it would make you feel like an _idiot_. Either way, you regarded Connor a friend. Well, sometimes you weren’t so sure, it’s not like either of you had shared your secrets with one another, or went to lunch or anything. Then you started to think about what Gavin had said, _bad influence_. Were you really so bad? This afternoon was probably the first time you didn’t go against orders without expecting praise, you did it because it was _right_. Maybe Gavin had a point, maybe Connor _was_ a good influence for you. So you thought fuck it and told him.

“I know it against protocol, but I made a promise to Alice.” You told him, swaying on your feet and looking up to his vacant expression. “I promised her we’d get Kara to remember.”

“We aren’t supposed to make promises.” Connor said as you both walked at a steady pace up the stairs into the hallway of the police station. Hovering outside the door to the interrogation room.

“Thanks for the stating the obvious.” You rolled your eyes. “She was so sad and… it kinda just _slipped out?_ ”

Connor’s face was puzzled for a moment, but his features grew soft and it seemed he _thankfully_ understood. “We’re all faced with difficult choices, don’t feel bad, you did what you thought was right at the time.”

You raised the corner of your mouth and began to chew on your lip lightly, thankful that Connor understood your reasoning for making a potential unfulfilled promise. Or maybe he was lying to make you feel better, _who knows._

“Whatya thinking?” You asked going on your tip toes to glance at the notes he’d taken while questioning Luther. “Anything useful?”

“Yes, in fact Luther filled in a lot of what happened when they found Kara, and what occurred the few days she had gone missing.” Connor handed you his notes that were hell of a lot easier to read than Hanks note taking. God, Connor’s handwriting was _beautiful_. No wonder Hank couldn’t get away with Connor doing his paperwork, it was _impossibly_ neat.

You scanned the document before you, learning that Kara had went out shopping and not returned home one night. She had been reported missing by a frantic Luther two days before she was found in her old neighbourhood. She was hovering around Todd Williams empty and unfurnished house when Luther and Alice had found her there, they’d had no clue how long she’d been there or _how_ she’d got there.

“Maybe the fact she was found near her old house means she must have some memory, right?” You asked Connor, hopeful.

“Potentially, or _potentially_ just a coincidence. I’ve emailed our findings over to Lieutenant Anderson,” Connor stated, his files still in hand. You noticed him peer to the interrogation room door for a moment, contemplating his next approach. “I think our next best course of action is to interrogate Kara, before Cyberlife take her.”

You looked from the interrogation room door, and up to Connor with raised brows. “Cyberlife are taking her?” You questioned.

Connor nodded. “They want to run some tests, and compare her hardwiring to that of the other reset androids. They want to find some common theme to help the investigation.”

“That’s _very_ kind of them.” You muttered, catching the figure of Kara sat waiting patiently at the desk inside the room.

It was probably selfish of you to say but you _were not setting foot in that interrogation room._ Call it self-centred, call it laziness, call in anything other than what it actually was… _fear_. Yes, you’d made a very stupid promise to Alice, a promise you weren’t sure at this stage you could fulfil. But Connor was much more equipped to the job of interrogating a potentially tampered with Androids than you were. _You lacked experience in that field._ You’d stick to colouring in with children for the good of everyone.

“I think it’s best you talk to her.” You told Connor as you saw his eyebrows shoot up, a hint of confusion in his glare. “Even though she won’t remember, you’ve met, right? It might help her subconscious seeing a …friendly face?” It was a solid excuse, and you’d even surprised yourself at how well-founded your quick on-the-spot logic was, even Connor seemed to agree with you.

Connor nodded again, contemplating for a moment. “If you believe that’s best.”

He began to extend his arm, removing his human encasing and began to press his hand on the door pad, before you swiftly grabbed his wrist before he could make contact. Connor’s eyes moved to meet yours, then something _weird_ happened. You totally lost yourself in his deep brown eyes as you totally forgot what the _hell_ you were about to say, you stared at him silently, and for the first time his gaze had totally caught you off guard. You hadn’t quite noticed how… _woah what the fuck?_ You snapped out your daze, quickly removing your hand from his wrist, unsure of what the hell just happened to you. _Did you just shut down?_

“Good luck.” You spluttered, trying to get something out to fill the slight layer of awkward silence that had settled between you both. Connor’s vacant expression shifted into a small smile at the corner of his mouth, and he headed into the interrogation room in quick succession. You brushed yourself down, trying to screw your head on straight and recollect yourself from _whatever the hell just happened to your physical form_. _It’s definitely time to recharge with a coffee,_ but you realised you didn’t have time as you pushed open the door to the interrogation viewing room.

You awkwardly shuffled in, immediately looking through the two-way glass to see Kara clearly for the first time. She looked… _empty_. It was something you could only compare to how the androids were before, before they woke up and became deviant. Now all the androids have their own little personalities, even Connor has his own little quips just like any other human – quips that _make_ him human. But Kara was just another carbon copy of the AX400 she used to be, no personality, no feelings, _nothing_.

You were so overcome with your thoughts you hadn’t even noticed Gavin and Chris sat expectantly in their seats, and Hank stood with a cup of coffee by the door. You slinked down in a seat in the corner of the room as you attempted to sigh your nerves away. You were thankful Fowler had taken his leave and wasn’t still hovering around in here.

“Hey kid, how did the interview go?” Hank asked noticing your detached leer. He slid his way along the wall toward your seat, accidentally tantalising you with his cup of coffee that you wanted _so_ _desperately_.

“It went well.” You said simply, tearing your eyes from his coffee to smile at him. “Thank you for trusting me.” Even though it wasn’t a particularly _fun_ experience to interview a distraught little girl, you knew Hank only wanted to help you up the ranks. He saw your potential, and he saw past your unsophisticated ways.

“You don’t have to thank me.” Hank told you, but you could tell he appreciated it anyways.

“I know, but I wanted to.” You smiled back, _thanks dad._

You leant forward on your thighs as you watched Connor introduce himself to Kara, but your eye-line was blocked by Chris swinging around to face you from the seat in front, a large grin plastered on his face. 

“You up for a few drinks at Jimmy’s after work?” Chris asked you without even saying hi, _honestly it was the best greeting you could have asked for._

“Definitely.” You said without missing a beat, you watched Gavin’s shoulders shake in front of you as he chuckled at your response.

“I told you.” Gavin said to Hank with a smug smile on his face, you snorted as you nudged into his back and he yelp with a little ‘ouch’ at your prodding finger. You weren’t one to pass up on the offer for a drink or two, but after the day you’ve had of catching your first murderer and stressing over vows you really needed an afternoon to _destress_. Hank shushed the bunch of you with his fatherly superiority as a layer of silence fell between the four of you. You began to watch the scene before you unfold.

\---

Connor had tried, Connor had tried _so_ hard to get anything from Kara. He’d brought up her history with Todd, her time as a fugitive, the events that happened in Zlatko’s home, her time in Jericho. But albeit, nothing seemed to effect Kara or job her memory. Connor supplied images, shared traumatic events, he spoke of Alice, he asked her why she was in her old neighbourhood but nothing was clicking. She just sat there with her posture pristine, repeating the phrase “I do not recall.” or “I have no knowledge of that.” Or worst or all. “ _I am a machine_.” By the end of it all Connor looked defeated, and Kara’s expression had no hint of emotion. You, Chris, Gavin and Hank shared an unanimous sombre glance between you all and you sunk down in your chair, eyes focused on Kara, the shell of her former self.

Connor stood up to leave and joined you four in the interrogation room, vanquished by his lack of progress. Hank put a hand on his shoulder as he entered telling him he did his best, he told you how Kara was to be sent to Cyberlife for tests and the news had yet to be broken to Alice and Luther. And no guesses _who_ they wanted to break the news.

You all filtered out the interrogation room into the hallway, a defeated tone spread among you. You saw Captain Fowler talking to two associates from Cyberlife a few metres down the hall, hovering their way over to snap up Kara and take her away for testing. The thought made you cringe, you couldn’t imagine Cyberlife prodding and poking away at a living mind doing Kara any good, but you hope they could maybe find a backup folder or something? _You didn’t know._ Abruptly, at the worst time possible and almost like a prearranged schedule you saw the door to the staircase swing open, and Alice and Luther walked out lead by Billy Lawrence. _Fucking Billy._

As Alice and Luther were taken down the precinct corridors, Kara was hauled from the interrogation room and your heart almost leapt out your throat as you saw Alice’s mouth fall open and Luther stop in his tracks. Your breathe hitched and a feeling of pain stabbed your chest, _does no one in this station know how to fucking communicate?_ Surely, they could have timed this shit better, you pushed your anger to the side as you heard Alice call after her mom.

“Kara?” She said softly her voice small, you began to make you way over to her but a hand on your shoulder pulled you back. You turned to see Hank gently shaking his head and telling you to stay out of it. _Fat chance of that._

“Kara?!” Alice called louder this time, and caught the android's attention as Kara turned around to face her. For a moment she stared at Alice and you all held your breath simultaneously. _Was this it? Was she going to remember?_ But Kara simply looked at Alice with no glint in her eye, and was obediently lead away by the Cyberlife team.

“ _Kara_!” Alice almost shrieked as she broke from Luthers grasp and began to run toward her mom, tears streaming down her face. You turned briskly to Hank with a gaze full of fury and he was taken aback and let you go.

You caught Alice as she ran, tears staining her cheeks as she tried desperately to break free from your grip. 

“ _Mom!”_ Alice squealed as her voice cracked, she held tightly onto the fabric of your blazer as Kara was taken out of sight, she didn’t look back, not even once. You bit back the tears in your own eyes as you held Alice’s shoulders and wiped the tears from her face. Luther stood behind you both clearly still trying to accept this situation was reality and that Kara was being taken away. Alice was swaying roughly in front of you, trying to break free and run past you down the halls as the tears spilled from her eyes harshly as she chocked on her words.

“Hey, Alice, look at me.” You told her, trying to remain as calm as possible. Alice met your eye-line, her version was blurry due to the tears.

“Wh-where are they taking h-her.” She stuttered through her distraught front, holding tighter onto the material of your blazer which tightened around your arms.

“They’re going to help Alice, that was Cyberlife.” You tried to explain to her, glancing up at Luther to break the news. “They just want to run some tests, that’s all.”

“Why were we the last to know?” Luther asked in a stern tone, clearly unimpressed and _angry_.

You spoke. “I was on my way to tell you, I promise.” _Stop promising things!_ You hardly noticed the small crowd of detectives that had gathered around you to watch the scene before them. You made eye contact with Captain Fowler as he began to approach Luther in order to calm him down.

You began to feel a little nervous before Connor chimed in to help you out, “We apologise for out lack of professionalism.” He stepped forward, wrapping his hand around your bicep to haul you up, as you pulled Alice to her feet. Alice retreated back to Luther’s side, and you almost fell into Connor as you stepped back with his arm still on your bicep as he steadied you.

“We’ll keep you updated every step of the way of our investigation.” Fowler told them, offering to escort them out the building and call them a taxi. Luther agreed, clearly still agitated by the situation, but thankfully the respect he’d been shown allowed him to oversee Billy’s mistake. Billy avoided your eye-line as you burnt holes into the back of his head.

You fell against the wall releasing a breath you didn’t realise you’d been holding, before you could collect your thoughts you felt a small hand grip yours. You looked down to see Alice stood there, the tears still prominent on her face, but a small smile broke through as you returned one, not sure what to say. Luther called for Alice, noticing her hand in yours. His stern gaze broke for a moment, as you both shared a mutual respectful nod. You silently told him you’d do the best you could to help his family. You wished in that moment you were an android so you could send him an email or _something_ , to make sure the message was abundantly clear. Alice’s hand slipped from yours as she ran after Luther being escorted out by Captain Fowler. You watched them disappear out of sight. You could have well and truly hit the floor is exhaustion from your adrenaline crash. Connor surged forward to hold onto your elbows to prop you up, a concerned expression on his face.

“Busy day, then?” Gavin asked, as he approached you.

“You could say that, _yeah_.” You sighed as you held onto Connor’s forearms as you steadied yourself again, trying not to look into his eyes due to your embarrassment. He let you go to stand on your own as he felt you regain strength.

Once you regained your composure, your eyes snapped up with one task in mind. _Yell at Billy. “_ What the fuck what _that_?” You called after him as he tried to sneak off down the corridor, you absentmindedly pushed Connor out the way as you stomped toward him. Billy’s shoulders hunched over as he stopped in his tracks, a shiver of fear running down his spine at your aggravated tone.

“I have- I’m sorry- I was ordered by-“ He turned around as he stumbled over his words, overcome with fear as your eyes could have well and truly been turning red.

“You’ve just _very_ _casually_ traumatised a little girl who was already going through so much! Why would you bring them up here without checking beforehand!?” You were almost yelling at this point, and Hank had tried to pull you back to calm you down. Gavin and Chris knew better than to even try, and they even kind of enjoyed to see you go off the rails.

“Hey kid, you need to cal-“ Hank began but stopped as you snatched your arm roughly from Hanks hold.

“I’m sorry!” Billy replied fearfully. “Captain Fowler h-he told me to e-escort them out the b-building.”

You were so _angry_ , why the fuck would he give that order so carelessly? Again, you didn’t check your surroundings before making your passing comments, but you never learn, and lessons never stick with you when you’re _this_ angry.

“Well Captain Fowler is a fucking _idiot_.”

And with that you heard a harsh clear of a throat, you knew exactly who was stood there but this time you didn’t _care_. You spun around determined to meet his disapproving glare, but you weren’t fazed. You were so angry at his lack of care for Alice’s feelings, you’d had your fair share of trauma watching your mother deteriorate and be taken away to a hospital against your wishes. You remembered how you begged them to stop, and called for your mother who didn’t even take a 2nd glance at you. That shit _fucking_ hurt, and the last thing you wanted was to watch a little girl experience that.

“Why the _fuck_ would you put a _little girl_ through that!?” You asked him callously, hearing the small gasps from your surrounding peers as you saw Chris slap a hand over his mouth at your lack of respect when addressing your _superior_. You couldn’t give a _fuck_.

Fowler explained “I was made aware by Connor that a traumatic event could potentially trigger memory restoration, but I may have-“

You interrupted Fowler as you turned to Connor abruptly “You had a say in this?!”

Connor looked at you while vigorously shaking his head as he stepped toward you. “I passed on the information, but I wasn’t aware of Captain Fowlers plans.” He told you matter-of-factly, reaching out to calm you down. You believed him, but you threw a hand up dismissively due to your fury clouding your judgement. You were not done with your Captain _just_ yet.

You turned back to him, slowly. Your eyes red with fury. “How _dare_ you.” You told at him, your brow stern and your fist tense. “How dare you traumatise a little girl on nothing but an impulse! We don’t even know if that scenario _works_!”

Captain Fowler stood his ground which only infuriated you more. You need to hit something, or scream or run down the corridor into a wall. Anything to be rid of this never-ending anger surging through you like a virus on a hard drive. You could almost see the metaphorical error 101 message flashing up before your eyes, and feel the short circuits sparking rapidly out of control on your motherboard. But you settled for something less violent, something potentially career ending, but your anger demanded it.

“You’re a _dick_.” You said to your Captain, simply. An abundance of gasps echoed the precinct as you hadn’t noticed the entirety of the DPD looking your way. You anger began to subside as you reached the peak of your fury and released it with a derogatory phrase toward your Captain. It felt good in the moment, but when you laid eyes on his serious scowl you knew you were in for it.

The calmness of Fowlers tone surprised you. “I’ll give you the afternoon to calm down detective, but I expect you in my office first thing tomorrow morning.” And with that he took off down the corridor, parting the sea of nosey detectives like moses and the red sea.

Your eyes scanned over the boys whose faces were gobsmacked, Billy was almost shaking in the corner and Hank attempted to usher the swarm of snooping police officers away from _ground zero_.

“And for my next trick, let’s watch my career…” You threw your hands up. “… _Disappear_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the lovely comments it really makes my life, you have no idea how much it means to me when people compliment my writing and story telling. See you all for chapter 5 VERY soon!


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